Gravity

Chapter 14 - May 2019

The rollercoaster of emotions that I was currently on took another twist when Stacy bypassed the bed and pulled me to a set of patio doors that led out to a balcony. Of sorts, anyway.

It was so small that she couldn't even fit a chair on it. The only decoration was a plant pot with a stem poking out that was looking a little worse for wear. It was still a balcony though, right?

"What do you think?" She asked.

"It's . . . nice." I shrugged, unsure on how else to describe the balcony that desperately needed a clean.

"No, this you idiot!" She laughed, punching my arm and pointing to the sky. I looked up and saw that she was referring to the stars that were peering out from behind the thin clouds.

"You remembered?" I asked in admiration. I wasn't sure she recalled my love of space.

"Of course! Venus is a long-ass day, right?"

"Right!" I laughed back.

"So are all these stars like planets or something?" She asked, seemingly immune to the chill I was feeling.

"Sometimes they look like stars, the closer planets anyway. But they are mostly actually different galaxies. Every galaxy has a star, like the sun is to us."

"The sun is a star?"

"Sure is," I smiled awkwardly. I was actually feeling a little weird talking to her about this. I mean, I loved that she seemed to be taking an interest but sometimes I feel like people are taking the piss when they ask me about space. I was still willing though as I didn't see why she'd bring it up if she didn't want to actually talk about it.

"Cool," she mused. "Can you point out the constellations to me? Like they do on TV?"

Dammit.

"I could . . . but I would need to use my app for it," I laughed, probably ruining the moment.

"Really? Jeez. There really is an app for everything," Stacy giggled. "I can see why you like to look at them I guess. If you were going to live on any planet, what one would it be?" She asked.

Feet on the ground.

"Well . . . Earth!"

"Really? Why?"

"Well, it's the only one that you could live on. A human anyway. We're the only planet with people, animals, forests, buildings . . . beer." I sniggered. I was still drunk after all.

"Fine, what planet is your favourite?" She rephrased. "Mars? Everybody loves that right?"

"Nah. Mars is the hipster planet," I joked, gaining another laugh from her. "God. That's like trying to name your favourite kid! I mean, Saturn is unbelievably beautiful to look at. Jupiter is big and nasty but so, so special. And all the inner planets have all these cool quirks. Evie and I always say we prefer the outer planets. Neptune and Uranus. Everyone always forgets about them and they're so far away that no one really knows all that much about them."

I left out the part that we related to those two planets on a personal level for the exact same reasons.

"So does all this mean you believe in aliens too?" She asked, now with a teasing tone. This was also an uncomfortable topic because as soon as you say "Yes", people automatically think you're a nut job.

"Yes and no," I sighed. "I think intelligent life out there is a bit of a stretch but not impossible. You know like little green men? But you know, the universe is so vast and massive that I think it's a bit naive to think that there isn't something," I dragged my eyes away from the faint glows to see if she was still listening. She looked back at me, her eyes mirroring the sparkles above.